Chapter 273: Back to the Ganalin Mountains

Fiddling with a piece of crumpled paper, Boran couldn't get his mind to settle. "Why? Why did you do that..." He mumbled as he opened the paper back up, only to crumple it a few seconds later. 

For a time now he had been having questions about just staying here in Phallos. He had thought of going home more than once, but he stopped himself as what was he going to do? His specialty was not fighting, it was better for him to stay away from the frontlines. But now?

Uncrumpling the piece of paper again, Boran again looked at the tear-stained writing. "Fuck!" Throwing the piece to the side, he stood up and started packing. Using his dimensional storage for the first time in years. 

He didn't like using it, and especially no flaunting it. But it was certainly better than having a bag of jewels in his hands. Going to the back of his room he opened a hidden safe, out of which he pulled a bag filled with the most valuable crystals on Gaia. 

After storing that back in his dimensional storage, he packed his tools. Then he headed down to the storage room to take the most valuable materials he had. Lastly, he headed to the second floor, casually grabbing himself Tier 5 sword and hammer, along with a set of armor and a shield. If one were to actually buy these items it would be far over a thousand gold. 

"Right, Dave should still be in the magic tower. So I might just catch him." Boran mumbled as he fiddled with the straps of the armor. He had picked heavy armor since he knew what he was going to do was not safe, and he wanted something which could fully save his life. Now he realized how uncomfortable it was to wear. 

It had been years since he last wore any armor himself. He knew this set would fit him perfectly since he always kept at least one set in the store for himself. What was truly irritating though was how the armor scratched against the metal melted into his right arm.

The wound having never healed fully, and in fact, the blue metal had melted more and more into his arm. Slowly spreading from mostly occupying his forearm, to where it now nearly reached his neck.

It never really gave him any discomfort, this was the first time it bothered him. Normally he had found it to actually be a blessing, allowing him to access mana with far more ease. As if it flowed and lived inside of him.

After a few minutes of trying to get the arm piece to fit, Boran simply gave up and took it off. "Screw it, the arm is already weird enough. Nothing normal will be able to damage it." 

With that he set out, leaving only a short message for those who worked there. Telling them that Rasgrem would be in charge until he returned. At the magic tower Boran found Dave at the top of his tower along with another mage. He quickly pulled Dave away so that they could talk in private. 

"Boran, what's going on?" Dave asked as they descended the many flights of stairs. Not understanding the urgency Boran was showing. 

"I got news from home." Boran replied, not wishing to get into detail, "I need to return and I need your help."

"My help? How can I help?" Dave asked with true confusion. 

"I'll explain as I go. I just need you to destroy the teleportation array I am going to draw."

"Wait what!?"

"That's all I need."

"What the hell do you mean the teleportation array you are going to draw? Do you know how hard they are to draw, how precise you have to be?" Dave questioned, to which he simply got a confident stare from Boran. 

"Just erase it and repair the original."

"Boran, you know this is illegal right?" Dave asked, starting to question Boran's sanity. 

"That's why I came here. I need to go home, and I know the royals won't make it simple."

Dave sighed hearing this, of course it won't be simple. Boran was one of three Tier 7 blacksmiths, and the only one who was also a Tier 7 runesmith in the kingdom. Naturally, the royals wouldn't want him to go back to his original kingdom, if they can help it. Heck Boran was certainly the number one smith now.

This was even aggravated with the invasion, and especially by the news of how the neighboring kingdoms were all losing ground. While it sounded like Taurus was holding out well, soon Phallos was going to need to defend their West and East, even if it stood strong. 

"Will you help me?" Boran asked after they had descended the rest of the stairs in silence. 

"Yes..." Dave replied, believing that a man must do what they feel right. "What should I do?" 

"Just wait until I finish it, then destroy the additions I made and return it to normal," Boran replied as he pulled out his bag of crystals and many other materials.

Firstly grinding up a mana crystal and throwing it over the entire middle floor. Causing the arrays to light up, which Boran quickly started changing. He started by using some very valuable materials to rewrite the core of the array, then using less valuable ones to expand it further. 

Dave frowned as he saw Boran's actions, while it was certainly effective, using a mana crystal like that was most wasteful in his opinion. The mana crystal he had used for it was indeed a small one, but it still cost 25 gold on its own. Yet what he saw next left him speechless.

Normally the teleportation array simply connected to the Magic Crystal below, pulling its power to perform teleportation.  While some mana crystals were needed to give the array enough power to reach the Magic Crystal, it was nothing compared to what Boran was doing. Especially considering the crystals would almost never even be fully used. 

Taking out nearly twenty mana crystals, Boran placed them in the center of the additions he made to the array. Yet the next moment left Dave speechless as Boran took out four Mov Crystals. Adding them in the center and finalizing the changes. The entire process having taken just minutes, but Dave was certain it would take him hours to return it to normal. 

"Where the hell are you planning on teleporting?" Dave asked as he looked at the massively stocked-up teleportation array. Heck with all the crystals and materials Boran had used, this should already be enough to teleport him anywhere in the kingdom and possibly some nearby kingdoms. Only the array he drew was foreign to Dave.

"Home," Boran replied as he placed himself in the center of the array and activated it. The room quickly becoming pitch black as all the light was sucked in by the array.

Dave was left speechless as he waited for the light to return to the room. When it did, he was again shocked as the patterns had melted into the floor. Cursing him to wonder just how he was supposed to fix this, until he saw a bag lying not far from the array. 

Boran you, goddammit. Why don't you explain?  Dave questioned as he opened the bag and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.  How the hell did you get your hands on this?

...

After a rough teleportation, Boran landed in a dark unlit room. Standing up he turned to look at the quickly dimming array. Confirming that he was at the right place. 

By the time he had finished confirming his destination, he was surrounded by six dwarves fully clad in abyssal armor. Each had their weapon trained on Boran and were ready to kill if he tried anything. 

"Brothers, please lower your weapons. I am not your match and won't think of trying anything dumb." Boran said as he showed them his empty hands. 

"Why have you come through the ancient array? Who are you?" One of the dwarves in black asked. Everyone slowly lowering their weapons down as they confirmed that Boran was indeed a brother and weaker than them. 

"I am Boran Brokkr, and I got a message from home. So I have come..." Boran paused as his voice cracked, "To see my brother off to the next life."

Hearing this and Boran's name, everyone quickly became quiet and solemn. Recently more and more enemies have been surfacing from old forgotten mines. The dwarves were doing their best to stop this, even sending abyssal guards to many of the more prominent mines. But that was still not enough, something was working against them. 

"You're Bursuli's younger brother?" The leader asked, his face now showing respect and shared sadness. "He saved the town of Vighyar, he didn't die in vain."

"Indeed, but it is a great loss for our family," Boran replied, his hands balled into fists as anger wanted to overrun his sadness. While it had been years since he last visited his home, he still remembered those years fondly. 

"Let me lead you to Buglodihr," The leader proposed but Boran shook his head in denial. 

"You have your mission. I am not important enough to cause you to abandon it."

"But..." The leader wanted to argue, to say that it would be his honor. But he stopped himself as he saw the resolve in Boran's eyes. 

"Relax, I know my way. This is the Tharn array right?" Boran asked, to which he got an affirmative. After which he quickly set off into the darkness, feeling strangely comfortable in the dark and cold of the cavern.